On-demand activation of security policies provides for launching web links and applications in a secure manner. In some situations, certain resources, such as e-mail and corporate intranet web pages, may only be available when a device is signed into a VPN. The VPN connection process can be cumbersome and time consuming, however. Conventional approaches approach this problem by keeping a device signed into a VPN for extended periods, but this can prove taxing on battery and network resources.